January 13, 2023

Two Beds Make One

Summary

Have you ever wanted to buy something that you thought would be easy to find but it turned out to be almost impossible? That has happened to me numerous times but most recently, this dilemma concerned a bed, or beds.

Last summer when we purchased Century View Lodge we had to furnish it top to bottom. To make the house commodious to all sorts of groups, we decided that king-size beds should serve double duty as XL twins. Though I love projects, I really did not want to have to make a lot of furniture since the house needed everything. I searched for HOURS on the internet trying to find beds that were stylish, straight sided so they could fit snugly together, affordable, and came in XL Twin size.

I was going for a fishing theme since we named the room “Toccoa” after the river that runs through the area. I thought a woven look would echo old-style fishing baskets. I finally found the right headboards but they did not come with bed frames.

I didn’t want to rely on a bed skirt to cover the typical metal frame so I was looking for a wooden one and found the solution at Home Depot. All I needed to do was attach the headboard to the frame and I’d be done, right? Wrong.

It turned out that there were a few problems that needed to be solved.

The headboard was narrower than the frame, therefore leaving a giant gap when the beds were pushed together.
The frame had slats to hold the mattress. When the bed was in the king position, it exposed large gaps between the unfinished wood slats.
The mattresses needed to be able to fit together snuggly and not slide apart.

Here is how I solved the problems.

Problem #1: The Width.

To make the headboard wider, I attached strips of wood on the back to act as a nailer.

Next I attached molding to the outside edges of the headboard and stained it to match the bed frame.

Problem #2: The Slats.

I spaced the existing slats out then measured the gaps. Then I cut a bunch of 1″ x 4″ pieces and drilled holes for pocket screws on the back.

Next, I attached them with the pocket screws to the back of the slats.
Then I masked off the slats and stained them to match the bed frame.

To keep the slats from shifting, I screwed a few of them to the inner rail they were sitting on.

Problem #3: Making the Two, One.

I had to make a way to keep the bed frames together but be able to separate them easily. The solution was to attach a latch behind the two center legs. No one can see it.

Comfort is what a great bed is all about so to make two mattresses seem like one, the key is a bed bridge. This one is made by TIURE and we purchased it on Amazon. It also comes with a belt that binds the two mattresses together.